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Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia
"Who hasn't stayed up late reading South Sea tales? Christina Thompson's Sea People is a South Sea tale to top them all."--Richard Rhodes, author of Energy: A Human History and the Pulitzer Prize winning The Making of the Atomic Bomb
"Magnificent. . . . A grand, symphonic, beautifully written book. . . . Sea People is an archive-researched historical account that has the page-turning qualities of an all-absorbing mystery."--Boston Globe
A blend of Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel and Simon Winchester's Pacific, a thrilling intellectual detective story that looks deep into the past to uncover who first settled the islands of the remote Pacific, where they came from, how they got there, and how we know.
For more than a millennium, Polynesians have occupied the remotest islands in the Pacific Ocean, a vast triangle stretching from Hawaii to New Zealand to Easter Island. Until the arrival of European explorers they were the only people to have ever lived there. Both the most closely related and the most widely dispersed people in the world before the era of mass migration, Polynesians can trace their roots to a group of epic voyagers who ventured out into the unknown in one of the greatest adventures in human history.
How did the earliest Polynesians find and colonize these far-flung islands? How did a people without writing or metal tools conquer the largest ocean in the world? This conundrum, which came to be known as the Problem of Polynesian Origins, emerged in the eighteenth century as one of the great geographical mysteries of mankind.
For Christina Thompson, this mystery is personal: her Maori husband and their sons descend directly from these ancient navigators. In Sea People, Thompson explores the fascinating story of these ancestors, as well as those of the many sailors, linguists, archaeologists, folklorists, biologists, and geographers who have puzzled over this history for three hundred years. A masterful mix of history, geography, anthropology, and the science of navigation, Sea People combines the thrill of exploration with the drama of discovery in a vivid tour of one of the most captivating regions in the world.
Sea People includes an 8-page photo insert, illustrations throughout, and 2 endpaper maps.
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When Women Ruled the World: Six Queens of Egypt
This riveting paperback explores the lives of six remarkable female pharaohs, from Hatshepsut to Cleopatra, and shines a piercing light on perceptions of powerful women today. Female rulers are a rare phenomenon--but thousands of years ago in ancient Egypt, women reigned supreme. Regularly, repeatedly, and with impunity, queens like Hatshepsut, Nefertiti, and Cleopatra controlled the totalitarian state as power-brokers and rulers. But throughout human history, women in positions of power were more often used as political pawns in male-dominated societies. Why did ancient Egypt provide women this kind of access to the highest political office? What was it about these women that allowed them to transcend patriarchal obstacles? What did Egypt gain from its liberal reliance on female leadership, and could today's world learn from its example? In this captivating narrative, celebrated Egyptologist Kara Cooney delivers a fascinating tale of female power, exploring the reasons why it has seldom been allowed through the ages--and why we should care. -
Cat Massage Therapy Vol. 1
A full-color manga about purrfectly professional massage therapists: fluffy cats who knead your troubles away. Nekoyama, worn out after another long day at the office, stops at a therapeutic massage parlor--only to discover that it's run by a cat! Not only that, but the cat actually does the massaging?! As the professional "meowsseur" digs soft toe beans into Nekoyama's aching muscles, his heart warms and his worries melt away. This is only the beginning, as he and other world-weary workers are about to meet the other feline professionals who have mastered pawfully cute techniques to reduce human stress. -
The Chosen
A coming-of-age classic about two Jewish boys growing up in Brooklyn in the 1940s, this "profound and universal" (The Wall Street Journal) story of faith, family, tradition, and assimilation remains deeply pertinent today. "Works of this caliber should be occasion for singing in the streets and shouting from the rooftops." --Chicago Tribune It's the spring of 1944 and fifteen-year-olds Reuven Malter and Danny Saunders have lived five blocks apart all their lives. But they've never met, not until the day an accident at a softball game sparks an unlikely friendship. Soon these two boys--one expected to become a Hasidic rebbe, the other at ease with secular America--are drawn into one another's worlds despite a father's strong opposition. Set against the backdrop of World War II and the creation of the state of Israel, The Chosen is a poignant novel about transformation and tradition, growing up and growing wise, and finding yourself--even if it might mean disappointing those you love. -
The Weiser Tarot Card Sticker Book: Includes Over 2,500 Stickers (32 Complete Sets of All 78 Tarot Cards)--Perfect for Tarot Journaling
Perfect for tarot journaling with any deck that uses the Waite-Smith system of 22 major arcana cards and 56 minor cards
These stickers were created for keeping track of your tarot readings in your personal tarot journal.- Includes 32 sets of stickers that include 78 tarot cards -- 2,560 stickers in all
- The stickers are "kiss-cut" to make it easy to peel them off and use them anytime.
- The stickers measure 1 x .6 inches
- They can be used with any tarot deck that uses the Waite-Smith system--22 major arcana cards and 56 minor cards--which is by far the most popular and is used as the basis for thousands of decks.
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Perilous Times
An immortal Knight of the Round Table faces his greatest challenge yet--saving the politically polarized, rapidly warming world from itself--in this slyly funny contemporary take on Arthurian legend. "If you like Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, you'll enjoy Perilous Times. . . . An utterly original take on Arthurian myth."--The Times
A POPSUGAR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR Legends don't always live up to reality. Being reborn as an immortal defender of the realm gets awfully tiring over the years--or at least that's what Sir Kay's thinking as he claws his way up from beneath the earth yet again. Kay once rode alongside his brother, King Arthur, as a Knight of the Round Table. Since then, he has fought at Hastings and at Waterloo and in both World Wars. But now he finds himself in a strange new world where oceans have risen, the army's been privatized, and half of Britain's been sold to foreign powers. The dragon that's running amok--that he can handle. The rest? He's not so sure. Mariam's spent her life fighting what's wrong with her country. But she's just one ordinary person, up against a hopelessly broken system. So when she meets Kay, she dares to hope that the world has finally found the savior it needs. Yet as the two travel through this bizarre and dangerous land, they discover that a magical plot of apocalyptic proportions is underway. And Kay's too busy hunting dragons--and exchanging blows with his old enemy Lancelot--to figure out what to do about it. In perilous times like these, the realm doesn't just need a knight. It needs a true leader. Luckily, Excalibur lies within reach. But who will be fit to wield it? With a cast that includes Merlin, Morgan le Fay, the Lady of the Lake, and King Arthur himself--all reimagined in joyous, wickedly subversive fashion--Perilous Times is an Arthurian retelling that looks forward as much as it looks back . . . and a rollicking, deadpan-funny, surprisingly touching fantasy adventure. -
Signature Cocktails
ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR: Epicurious, Vice, Food & Wine
A HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE SELECTION: Bloomberg, Saveur, Imbibe, Good Housekeeping, Sharp Magazine, Liquor.com, ELLE Decoration
A collection of 200 iconic drinks from around the globe, each of which has changed the culture of the cocktail
A signature cocktail is a bespoke drink that expresses the nature of the time, person, or place for which it was created. In this book, the author curates a collection of the most celebrated cocktails - from well-known classics such as the Bellini, to the up-to-the-minute Twin Cities from New York's ultra-hip Dead Rabbit bar.
Signature cocktails have become an increasingly popular way to define the style and character of a celebrated establishment and the talented mixologists behind them. Each unique drink in this collection is accompanied by the name of the creator, place and date of invention, alongside a specially commissioned image, easy-to-follow recipe, and a fascinating insight into its unique story.
Covering almost 600 years of cocktail history, this elegant and uniquely focused collection will appeal to a wide range of readers - from lovers of cocktails to everyone who enjoys entertaining, food, and culture, to mixologists, bartenders, and industry professionals.
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The Trump Indictments: The Historic Charging Documents with Commentary
In the long span of American history, Donald Trump is the first former president to face criminal indictment. He is the subject of a series of explosive charges across four cases: the January 6 case brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith; the election interference case in Georgia; the classified documents case also brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith; and the "hush money" case in New York. The first trial, in New York City, is set to begin on March 4, 2024.
Collecting the four indictments in a single, accessible volume, prominent legal scholars and commentators Melissa Murray and Andrew Weissmann walk us through each one in turn, with explanatory and contextual notes that enhance our understanding of these historic documents. The Trump Indictments includes:
- An introduction offering background--historical and contemporary--for the charges against the former president.
- The four indictments with annotations throughout, including insider notes from an eminent scholar (Murray) and a former federal prosecutor (Weissmann).
- A cast of characters, from Trump and his alleged co-conspirators to notable Proud Boys and Oath Keepers who face prison sentences as a result of related January 6 cases.
- A timeline that brings together in one place the critical events that led to the four indictments.A necessary handbook for any concerned citizen following the trials of Donald Trump in early 2024, The Trump Indictments will also endure as an indispensable record of a democracy in peril.
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The Art of Receiving and Giving
Why would most people endure unwanted or unsatisfying touch, rather than speak up for their own boundaries and desires? It's a question with a myriad of answers - and one that Dr. Betty Martin has explored in her 40+ years as a hands-on practitioner, first as a chiropractor and later as a Somatic Sex Educator, Certified Surrogate Partner and Sacred Intimate. In her client sessions, she noticed a pattern wherein many clients would "allow" or go along with discomfort or unease rather than speak up for what they wanted or didn't want. Betty discovered there was a major component missing for people -- the confidence that we have a choice about what is happening to us.
In her framework, "The Wheel of Consent(R)" Betty traces the fundamental roots of consent back to our childhood conditioning. As children, we are taught that to be "good" we must ignore our body's discomfort and be compliant: to finish our food even if we're full, to go to bed - even if we're not tired, to let relatives hug and kiss us even if we don't want to. We learn that our feelings don't matter more than what is happening, and that we don't have a choice but to go along, whether or not we want it.
As adults, this conditioning remains with us until we have an opportunity to unlearn it, which is why consent violations are often only called out after the violation has occurred - because we have not been taught or empowered to notice our boundaries, much less value or express our internal signals as the unwanted action is happening.
In this book, Betty guides the reader through the Wheel of Consent framework, and shares practices to help us recover the ability to notice what we want and set clear boundaries. While the practices are based on exchanges of touch, they can also be learned without touch. In these practices, we discover that the Art of Giving includes knowing our own limits so we can be more generous within those limits, and not give beyond our capacity - a common problem which creates feelings of resentment or martyrdom. We also discover that the Art of Receiving invites us to notice and ask for what we really want, and not just what we think we are supposed to want. This knowledge, and its embodied practice, is foundational for creating clear agreements and bringing more satisfaction into relationships.
While much of consent education focuses on noticing what we don't want, or prevention of violation, Betty has developed a "pleasure-forward" approach to teaching consent. By first accessing and awakening (sometimes re-awakening) our bodies' relationship to pleasure and what we want, we can practice noticing and verbalizing what we don't want. Such an approach provides a more holistic frame in which to unlearn the childhood conditioning that taught us to be silent and compliant, and in which individuals can learn to ask for what they want and state what they don't, in a more empowered way.
The implications of this approach to consent education extends beyond touch and intimate relationships. When we forget how to notice what we really want, we lose our inner compass. When we continue to go along with things we don't feel are right, we lose our ability to speak up against injustice. This has a profound effect on society. We allow all manner of inequality, corruption, theft of natural resources and our planet's future health - because "going along with it" feels normal.
The Wheel of Consent offers a deeply nuanced way to practice consent as an agreement that brings integrity, responsibility, and empowerment into human interaction, starting with touch and relationships, and further expanding our understanding of consent to social issues of equality and justice.
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E. B. White Box Set: 3 Classic Favorites: Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, the Trumpet of the Swan
This giftable box set contains paperback editions of the Newbery Honor-winning Charlotte's Web, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal-winning Stuart Little, and The Trumpet of the Swan--three beloved, timeless classics by E. B. White, with black-and-white illustrations by Garth Williams and Fred Marcellino.
Charlotte's Web
Some Pig. Humble. Radiant. These are the words in Charlotte's web, high up in Zuckerman's barn. Charlotte's spiderweb tells of her feelings for a little pig named Wilbur, who simply wants a friend. They also express the love of a girl named Fern, who saved Wilbur's life when he was born the runt of his litter. E. B. White's Newbery Honor Book is a tender novel of friendship, family, and adventure.
Stuart Little
Stuart Little is no ordinary mouse. Born to a family of humans, he lives in New York City with his family. But when Stuart's best friend goes missing, he's determined to leave home and take an epic journey to find his friend.
The Trumpet of the Swan
Louis is a trumpeter swan, but unlike the rest of his family, he can't make a sound. And since he can't trumpet his love, the beautiful swan Serena pays no attention to him. But when his father steals him a real brass trumpet, Louis has to find out if it's the key to what he's wanted all along. E. B. White's classic book is a tender novel of overcoming the odds and learning to do things on your own terms.
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Joyful Recollections of Trauma
From award-winning actor and comedian Paul Scheer, a candid and hilarious memoir-in-essays on coming to terms with childhood trauma and finding the joy in embracing your authentic self.
Paul Scheer has entertained countless fans and podcast listeners with stories about the odd, wild, and absurd details of his life. Yet these tales have pointed to deeper, more difficult truths that the actor and comedian has kept to himself. Now, he is finally ready to share those truths for the first time--but, of course, with a healthy dose of humor.
Blending the confident, affable voice that has won him a dedicated following with a refreshing level of candor, Joyful Recollections of Trauma chronicles Paul's often shocking, admittedly tumultuous childhood and how the experiences of his youth have reverberated throughout his life. In his comedy, Paul has always been unafraid to "go there," to play naïve, cringeworthy characters, imbuing them with disarming charm and humanity. That daring openness is on display in the pages of this memoir, but in true Paul fashion, it is also surprising, eye-opening, and side-splitting.
In this madcap journey through the inner working of his mind and creative process, Paul Scheer demonstrates once again that the truth is often stranger--and funnier--than fiction. Joyful Recollections of Trauma offers a unique perspective on universal themes: growing up, working through a challenging childhood, staying true to yourself, and finding success, fulfillment, and happiness in often strange and difficult circumstances. Throughout, Paul shares both the hard-fought lessons and the laughter that can be found in the darkest parts of life, and reminds us that what matters is not what you've been through but who you are becoming.
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From Here to Equality, Second Edition: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century
Racism and discrimination have choked economic opportunity for African Americans at nearly every turn. At several historic moments, the trajectory of racial inequality could have been altered dramatically. But neither Reconstruction nor the New Deal nor the civil rights struggle led to an economically just and fair nation. Today, systematic inequality persists in the form of housing discrimination, unequal education, police brutality, mass incarceration, employment discrimination, and massive wealth and opportunity gaps. Economic data indicates that for every dollar the average white household holds in wealth the average black household possesses a mere ten cents.
This compelling and sharply argued book addresses economic injustices head-on and make the most comprehensive case to date for economic reparations for U.S. descendants of slavery. Using innovative methods that link monetary values to historical wrongs, William Darity Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen assess the literal and figurative costs of justice denied in the 155 years since the end of the Civil War and offer a detailed roadmap for an effective reparations program, including a substantial payment to each documented U.S. black descendant of slavery. This new edition features a new foreword addressing the latest developments on the local, state, and federal level and considering current prospects for a comprehensive reparations program. -
Brain Games - Crossword Puzzles - Large Print (Blue)
This book, from the popular Brain Games series, presents more than 80 crossword puzzles in a large-print format.- Puzzle clues and grids are enlarged for ease of reading and writing, and spread across two pages.
- The puzzles get progressively more challenging as you proceed through the book.
- If you get stumped, solutions to all the puzzles are provided in the final section of the book.
- Spiral bound, 192 pages.
Brain Games was developed to help people increase their memory, sharpen their reasoning, and expand their creative thinking. Working the puzzles in this book can provide a vigorous mental workout for virtually everyone from teenagers to senior citizens. -
The Utopia of Rules: On Technology, Stupidity, and the Secret Joys of Bureaucracy
From the author of the international bestseller Debt: The First 5,000 Years comes a revelatory account of the way bureaucracy rules our lives Where does the desire for endless rules, regulations, and bureaucracy come from? How did we come to spend so much of our time filling out forms? And is it really a cipher for state violence? To answer these questions, the anthropologist David Graeber--one of our most important and provocative thinkers--traces the peculiar and unexpected ways we relate to bureaucracy today, and reveals how it shapes our lives in ways we may not even notice...though he also suggests that there may be something perversely appealing--even romantic--about bureaucracy. Leaping from the ascendance of right-wing economics to the hidden meanings behind Sherlock Holmes and Batman, The Utopia of Rules is at once a powerful work of social theory in the tradition of Foucault and Marx, and an entertaining reckoning with popular culture that calls to mind Slavoj Zizek at his most accessible. An essential book for our times, The Utopia of Rules is sure to start a million conversations about the institutions that rule over us--and the better, freer world we should, perhaps, begin to imagine for ourselves. -
Octavia E. Butler: The Last Interview: And Other Conversations
A New York Times 6 New Paperbacks to Read This Week
A Los Angeles Daily News 25 Must Read Best Books of 2023
A Ms Magazine September 2023 Reads For The Rest of Us "The impression left by The Last Interview is of an indomitable woman who made her way through persistence and diligence." -- Dave Luhrssen of the The Shepherd Express "I write about people who do extraordinary things. It just turned out that it was called science fiction." - Octavia E. Butler Octavia E. Butler's work broke innumerable barriers and helped open the field of science fiction to writers and readers it had never had before. As the first Black writer to win the coveted Nebula and Hugo Awards, her courage and vision left a peerless legacy for fans not just of science fiction, but of American literature. In this collection of 10 interviews, 3 of them never published, Butler speaks with candor and openness about her work, her imaginative mission, and the barriers she faced as a Black woman working in a genre dominated by white men. The book features an original introduction by science fiction legend Samuel R. Delany, in which he discusses his personal relation with Butler, providing unparalleled insight into her work and life. -
Disney Tim Burton's the Nightmare Before Christmas: The Full Film Script
The screenplay and lyrics from Disney Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas--along with hundreds of behind-the-scenes facts, illustrations, and historical details from the Walt Disney Animation Research Library--are all collected in these pages. Experience your favorite stop-motion animated film in a new way with this special edition of Disney Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. This handsome hardcover book includes both the full film script and the complete song lyrics, along with hundreds of behind-the-scenes facts about the production and development of the film, including details about how the puppets were constructed and animated. All this is brought to life with photographs, original sketches, final frames, and historical images from the Walt Disney Animation Research Library. Readers will enjoy an in-depth experience of this beloved classic and gain a deeper appreciation for the animators, musicians, and voice actors who brought the story of Halloween Town to the screen.Sold out